stories for thinking children 2

It's nibbling away hungrily at a leaf." "That's my little brother," smiled the pillar "In a while he'll weave a cocoon too,and one day he'll be a butterfly like me." cater-Asad had lots

A B O U T T H E A U T H O R The author, who writes under the pen-name Harun Yahya, was born in Ankara in 1956 He studied arts at Istanbul's Mimar Sinan University, and philosophy at Istanbul University Since the 1980s, the author has published many books on political, faith-related and scientific issues Greatly appreciated all around the world, these works have been instrumental in helping many to return their faith in Allah, and, in many others, to gain a deeper insight into their faith Harun Yahya's books appeal to all kinds of readers, regardless of their age,

C hildren! What do you know about termites,

those hard-working creatures resembling

ants? Do you know that butterflies with their

beautiful wings start out as tiny caterpillars and

finally emerge from cocoons?

Do you know how woodpeckers hide tiny acorns in holes in oak trees, how it is that glow-worms are not burned by the light they give off, how frogs camouflage themselves to hide from their enemies, or how it is that seals do not freeze in the icy oceans ?

The stories you read in this book will give you lots of facts about those and many other fascinating subjects As you read these stories you will think in detail about the animals in them and see just how flawlessly Allah has created them all.

Now writing under the pen-name of HARUN YAHYA, he was born

in Ankara in 1956 Having completed his primary and secondary cation in Ankara, he studied arts at Istanbul's Mimar Sinan University and philosophy at Istanbul University Since the 1980s, he has pub- lished many books on political, scientific, and faith-related issues Harun Yahya is well-known as the author of important works disclos- ing the imposture of evolutionists, their invalid claims, and the dark li- aisons between Darwinism and such bloody ideologies as fascism and communism

edu-His pen-name is a composite of the names Harun (Aaron) and Yahya (John), in memory of the two esteemed Prophets who fought against their people's lack of faith The Prophet's seal on the his books' covers

is symbolic and is linked to the their contents It represents the Qur'an (the final scripture) and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), last of the prophets Under the guidance of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (teachings of the Prophet), the author makes it his purpose to disprove each fundamental tenet of godless ideologies and to have the "last word," so as to completely silence the objections raised against religion.

He uses the seal of the final Prophet, who attained ultimate wisdom and moral perfection, as a sign of his intention to offer the last word All of Harun Yahya's works share one single goal: to convey the Qur' an's message, encourage readers to consider basic faith-related issues such as Allah's Existence and Unity and the hereafter; and to expose godless systems' feeble foundations and perverted ideologies

Harun Yahya enjoys a wide readership in many countries, from India

to America, England to Indonesia, Poland to Bosnia, and Spain to Brazil Some of his books are available in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Urdu, Arabic, Albanian, Russian, Serbo- Croat (Bosnian), Polish, Malay, Uygur Turkish, and Indonesian

terialistic philosophy, since these books are characterized by rapid fectiveness, definite results, and irrefutability Even if they continue to

ef-do so, it will be only a sentimental insistence, since these books refute such ideologies from their very foundations All contemporary move- ments of denial are now ideologically defeated, thanks to the books written by Harun Yahya

This is no doubt a result of the Qur'an's wisdom and lucidity The thor modestly intends to serve as a means in humanity's search for Allah's right path No material gain is sought in the publication of these works.

au-Those who encourage others to read these books, to open their minds and hearts and guide them to become more devoted servants of Allah, render an invaluable service

Meanwhile, it would only be a waste of time and energy to gate other books that create confusion in people's minds, lead them into ideological chaos, and that clearly have no strong and precise effects in removing the doubts in people's hearts, as also verified from previous experience It is impossible for books devised to emphasize the author's literary power rather than the noble goal of saving people from loss of faith, to have such a great effect Those who doubt this can readily see that the sole aim of Harun Yahya's books is to overcome disbelief and

propa-to disseminate the Qur'an's moral values The success and impact of this service are manifested in the readers' conviction

One point should be kept in mind: The main reason for the ing cruelty, conflict, and other ordeals endured by the vast majority of people is the ideological prevalence of disbelief This can be ended only with the ideological defeat of disbelief and by conveying the wonders

continu-of creation and Qur'anic morality so that people can live by it Considering the state of the world today, leading into a downward spi- ral of violence, corruption and conflict, clearly this service must be pro- vided speedily and effectively, or it may be too late

In this effort, the books of Harun Yahya assume a leading role By the will of Allah, these books will be a means through which people in the twentyfirst century will attain the peace, justice, and happiness promised in the Qur'an.

• A special chapter is assigned to the collapse of the theory of evolution because this theory constitutes the basis of all anti-spiritual philosophies Since Darwinism rejects the fact of creation—and therefore, Allah's Existence—over the last 140 years it has caused many people to abandon their faith or fall into doubt It is therefore an imperative service, a very important duty to show everyone that this theory is a deception Since some readers may find the chance to read only one of our book, we think it appropriate to devote a chap- ter to summarize this subject

• All the author's books explain faith-related issues in light of Qur'anic verses, and invite readers to learn Allah's words and to live by them All the subjects concerning Allah's verses are explained so as to leave no doubt or room for questions in the reader's mind The books' sincere, plain, and fluent style ensure that everyone of every age and from every social group can easily understand them Thanks to their effective, lucid narrative, they can be read at

a one sitting Even those who rigorously reject spirituality are influenced by the facts these books document and cannot refute the truthfulness of their contents

• This and all the other books by the author can be read individually, or discussed in a group Readers eager to profit from the books will find discus- sion very useful, letting them relate their reflections and experiences to one an- other

• In addition, it will be a great service to Islam to contribute to the cation and reading of these books, written solely for the pleasure of Allah The author's books are all extremely convincing For this reason, to communicate true religion to others, one of the most effective methods is encouraging them

publi-to read these books.

• We hope the reader will look through the reviews of his other books at

HA AR RU UN N Y YA AH HY YA A

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IIt was a bright, sunny Sunday Faruq had gone to the forest for

a picnic with his teacher and his classmates

Faruq and his friends began playing hide and seek

Suddenly Faruq heard a voice crying, "Be careful!" Faruqbegan looking to right and left, unsure of where the voice wascoming from But there was nobody there

Later on he heard the same voice again This time it said, "I'mdown here!"

Right next to his foot Faruq noticed an insect that looked verymuch like an ant

like I'll show you one."

Faruq agreed, and they moved off When they

ar-rived, what the termite showed Faruq looked like a tall

building with windows in it

"What's this?" Faruq wanted to know

"This is our home," the termite explained "We build

these ourselves."

"But you are so small," objected Faruq "If your

friends are all the same size as you, how can you

pos-sibly make something as enormous as this?"

The termite smiled "You're right to be surprised, Faruq For

lit-tle creatures like us to be able to make places like this really is very

surprising But don't forget, this is easy for Allah, Who created us

all."

"What is more, besides being very tall, our homes have other

very special features to them as well For example, we make

spe-cial children's rooms, places for growing mushrooms and a

queen's throne room for our homes And we don't forget to make

a ventilation system for our homes By doing this we balance the

humidity and temperature inside And before I forget, let me tell

you something else, Faruq, we are unable to see!"

Faruq was amazed "Although you are so tiny you can hardly

be seen, you still build homes just like the tall buildings people

make How do you manage to do all this?"

The termite smiled again "As I said before, it is Allah Who

gives us these extraordinary talents He created us in such a way

that we are able to do all these things But now Faruq, I must go

back home and help my friends."

Faruq understood: "OK, I want to go and tell my teacher and

my friends what I've learned about you right away."

"Good idea, Faruq" waved the little termite, "Look after

your-self Hope to see you again."

At the weekend, Asad went to visit his grandfather.

The two days passed very quickly, and beforeAsad knew it his father had arrived to take him home.Asad said goodbye to his grandfather and went to sit inthe car He was looking out of the window as he waited forhis father to collect his things A butterfly sitting on aflower a short distance away fluttered its wings and flew

to the car window

"You're going home, aren't you, Asad?" asked the terfly in a tiny voice

but-Asad was astonished "Do you know me?" he asked

"Of course I do," smiled the butterfly "I've heard yourgrandfather telling the neighbors about you."

"Why didn't you come and talk to me before?" Asadinquired

"A coon? What'sthat?" asked Asad, whowas always a curious boy.

co-"Let me explain from the ginning," said the butterfly as ittook a deep breath "We but-terflies hatch out of the egg astiny caterpillars We feed our-selves by nibbling

be-leaves Later weuse a liquid whichcomes out of ourbodies like threadand wrap ourselves

up in it That littlepackage we weave is called

a cocoon We spend a while insidethat package as we wait to grow

When we wake up and comeout of the cocoon we havebrightly colored wings We spendthe rest of our lives flying and feed-ing ourselves from flowers."

Asad nodded thoughtfully "Youmean all those colorful butterflieswere once caterpillars before theygrew wings?"

"Can you see the green caterpillar on that branch?"asked the butterfly.

"Yes, I see it It's nibbling away hungrily at a leaf."

"That's my little brother," smiled the pillar "In a while he'll weave a cocoon too,and one day he'll be a butterfly like me."

cater-Asad had lots of questions to ask hisnew friend "How do you plan thischange? I mean, when do you come out ofthe egg, how long do you stay as a cater-

Do you not see that Allah sends downwater from the sky and by it We bringforth fruits of varying colors? And in themountains there are streaks of whiteand red, of varying shades, and rocks ofdeep jet black And mankind and beastsand livestock are likewise of varyingcolors Only those of His servants withknowledge have fear of Allah Allah isAlmighty, Ever-Forgiving

(Surah Fatir: 27-28)

"I don't plan any of it atall," explained the butterflypatiently "Allah has taught uswhat we need to do and when weneed to do it We just act in the way ourLord wills."

Asad was really impressed "The patterns onyour wings are wonderful And all butterflies havedifferent patterns, don't they? They are really color-ful and eye-catching!"

"That's a proof of Allah's incomparable artistry He created us one

by one in the most beautiful way possible," explained his friend

Asad agreed enthusiastically: "It's

impos-sible not to see the beautiful things

Allah has created There are

hun-dreds of examples all round us!"

The butterfly agreed: "You're

right Asad We need to give

thanks to Allah for all these

blessings."

Asad looked over his

shoul-der: "My father's coming It

looks like we're about to set

off It was really great to

meet you Can we talk

again when I come next

week?"

"Of course," nodded

the butterfly "Have

a safe journey

home."

TThat Sunday, Irfan went for a walk in the woods with his father.

While he was walking, he was thinking about how beautiful thetrees and all of nature were His father then bumped into a friend, and

as the two grown-ups were chatting Irfan heard a sound:

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap

The sound was coming from a tree.Irfan walked up to the bird that was mak-ing it and asked:

"Why are you hitting the tree withyour beak like that?"

The bird stopped what it was doing,and turned to look at Irfan "I am awoodpecker, " it answered "We makeholes in trees and build our nests in them.Sometimes we store our food in thesetree holes This is the first hole I've evermade I will make hundreds more like itthough." Irfan looked closer at the hole

"Fine, but how do you store food in such

The woodpecker smiled: "If I did that, other birds would come and

find my food store and steal my acorns But the holes I make are of

different sizes When I put the acorns I find into the holes, I store them

according to their size The size of the acorn exactly matches the hole

I put it into That way the acorn fits tightly into the hole Because Allah

created my beak so that I can take the acorns back out of the holes

easily, I can take them from the trees without any problem But other

birds can't do that, so my food is safe Of course, I don't have the

brains to think all that out I'm only a woodpecker Allah makes me

do these things It is Allah Who taught me how to hide my food and

Who created my beak in

the right way for me to do

it Really, it isn't just me—

all living creatures are

able to do the things they

do because that is what

Allah taught them."

Irfan agreed: "You're

right Thank you for telling

me all that You

re-minded me the great

power of Allah."

Irfan said goodbye to

his little friend and went

back to his father He was

very happy because

wher-ever he looked he could

see another of Allah's

mir-When he was traveling by ferryboat in hot

weather what Jalal liked to do best was tosit outside on deck That way he got a closer view

of the sea and could look around more easily.One day Jalal boarded the ferryboat with hismother Right away he went and sat down ondeck A group of seagulls were following theferryboat as though they were racing one an-other The seagulls put on a wonderful display,swirling and turning in the air, and fought oneanother over pieces of bread thrown to them bythe passengers

One of the seagulls glided slowly downand landed on the seat next to Jalal

"How did you like our flying display?" itasked "I noticed that you were watching us

The seagull nodded its head "We seagulls position ourselves

according to the direction of the wind Even if there is very little

wind, rising air currents lift us up We make use of this

movement, and we can make long journeys without

flap-ping our wings at all."

"We move backwards and forwards inside the masses

of air rising up from the sea," it went on "These currents

mean that we always have air under our wings,

and that allows us to stay up in the air without

using up too much energy."

Jalal was still not sure he quite understood: "I saw you up there

in the air without moving your wings, just as if you were hanging

there And you do all this by acting according to the direction of

the wind? I can see that, but how do you calculate the strength of

the wind and which direction it will come from?"

"It's impossible for us to do that from our own knowledge,"

began the seagull "When He created us Allah taught us how to fly

and how to hang in the air without wasting energy These are

ex-amples given us so that we can realize Allah's existence and

un-derstand His power."

Jalal thought of another question: "Yes, you stay hanging in the

air as though you were held up there by a string To be able to

do this you'd need to know math very well and be able to make

detailed calculations, but you do it without any problem right from

the first time you fly, don't you?"

"Absolutely," the seagull agreed "Our Lord gave every living

creature the inspiration it needs We all do what we are told to do.Never forget that Allah embraces everything and keeps everythingunder His control He is the Lord of all things You can find a lot ofverses about this in the Qur'an The ferry is approaching land now,and I'm going to fly off to join my friends See you again " Jalalwatched his new friend fly away, growing smaller and smaller in thedistance.

When he arrived home Jalal looked for a verse in the Qur'anabout everything being under Allah's control He found it in theSurah Hud, and learned the verse by heart right away:

[Hud said,] "I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock My Lord

is on a Straight Path." (Surah Hud: 56)

Do they not see the birds suspended in mid-air up in the sky?

Nothing holds them there except Allah.

There are certainly Signs in that for

people who believe

(Surat an-Nahl: 79)

D ear children, have you heard of a kind of bird known as

megapode? When these birds have chicks to raise, it is

always the male birds which look after them First the

mother bird digs a big hole to lay her eggs in After she has laid

her eggs, the male has to keep the nest at a temperature of 92

degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius).

In order measure the temperature of the nest the male bird buries

its beak in the sand which covers it, using its beak like a

ther-mometer The bird repeats this operation over and over again If

the temperature of the nest goes up, it immediately opens air

holes to bring the temperature down again Also, the bird's beak

is such a delicate thermometer that if somebody throws a handful

of soil on top of the nest and the temperature rises even the

tini-est bit, the bird can detect this Such measurements are only

pos-sible for us to make by using a

ther-mometer, and yet megapodes have

been doing this for centuries, and

never make the slightest mistake.

This is because Allah taught them

everything, and it is the Almighty

Allah Who created a beak with the

sensitivity of a thermometer.

On summer evenings Kamal and his family used to eat their

evening meals in the garden One summer evening, as theywere getting up from the table, Kamal saw a light going on and offamongst the trees at the edge of the garden He went over to thetrees to see what was going on, and he noticed an insect flittingabout But this insect was very different from those he was used toseeing in the daytime It was giving off light as it flew

The insect stopped flying for a moment, and came up to Kamal

"Hello," it said "You look very surprised You've been watching

me for a long time My name's Glow-Worm, what's yours?"

"My name's Kamal You're right, I've never seen an insect thatflickered with light in the way you do before Yellowish green raysare coming from your body I remember that once when I touched

a light bulb it burned my hand Doesn't having this light coming

from your body hurt you?"

The glow-worm nodded "You're right,Kamal, when you say that lamps arereally very hot while giving off light.Light bulbs use electrical energy toproduce light, and some of that en-ergy turns into heat That causes

"So does that mean you don't get hot?" he asked.

"That's right," agreed the glow-worm "We

pro-duce energy ourselves and we use this energy very

care-fully That means that none of our energy is wasted and it

doesn't produce heat which would damage our bodies."

Kamal considered for a moment, "That's a really well thought

out system."

"Yes, it is," agreed his friend "When Allah created us He

planned everything we need in the best

possi-ble way When we're flying we beat our

wings very quickly Of course, that's a

job which needs a lot of energy But

because our light doesn't use up much

of our energy we have no problem

with it."

Kamal had something else he

wanted to ask, "What do you use the

light you give off for?"

His friend

ex-plained: "We use it

both to pass

lights At other times we use it to frighten our enemies and keepthem away from us."

Kamal was very impressed by what his friend hadbeen telling him: "So everything you need is inside yourown bodies, and there's no need to tire yourselves out!"

"That's right," the glow-worm agreed "Despite all theirbest efforts, scientists have been unable to develop a systemquite like ours As I said before, Allah created us in the mostbeautiful way and in the way most suited to our needs, just like allother living things."

Kamal smiled "Thank you What you have told me is very teresting I now realize what the verse I read yesterday means, ''IIssH

in-Hee WWhhoo ccrreeaatteess lliikkee hhiimm wwhhoo ddooeess nnoott ccrreeaattee?? SSoo wwiillll yyoouu nnoott ppaayyhheeeedd??'' (Surat an-Nahl: 17) When you think of all the living thingsAllah created and ourselves, there are plenty of examples to take

He is Allah—the Creator, theMaker, the Giver of Form To Himbelong the Most Beautiful Names

Everything in the heavens andearth glorifies Him He is theAlmighty, the All-Wise (Surat al-

Hashr: 24)

"Yes Kamal, every living thing is a proof of the superior

creative art of Allah Now, whenever you look at anything, you

will be able to see this Now I should go But don't forget what we

have been talking about!"

Kamal waved his friend goodbye: "It was nice to have met

you Hope to see you again "

On the way to home, reflecting on the amazing design in the

glow-worm, Kamal was eager to tell his family about his

conver-sation with his little friend

The Red Sea lies tween two deserts No rivers or

be-other running fresh water drain into

it In other words, there is no transfer

of oxygen or nitrogen Normally this

sea would be a barren desert like the lands which surround it, yet it con- tains corals of all kinds The corals which manage to live here in spite of the difficult conditions are able to do

so because of the symbiosis (the way they live together with other living things) they have established with other crea-

tures resembling plants, called algae The

algae hide themselves from their mies within the coral reefs and use sun- light to perform photosynthesis The

ene-harmonious lifestyle of these two creatures

is yet another proof of Allah's

won-drous creation.

At the weekend Ahmad went fishing on a

lake with his father While his father waspreparing the rods, Ahmad asked him forpermission to wander round a little Hisfather allowed him to do this on conditionthat he did not go too far away

Ahmad began walking amongst thethickets at the edge of the water A frogjumped out suddenly from between twobushes and landed on a stone right in

front of him

"You nearly trod onme!" complained thefrog

"I'm sorry," saidAhmad "You are ex-actly the same color asthe leaves, so I didn'tnotice you, little frog

My name's Ahmad and I'm taking a walk."

The frog smiled: "Pleased to meet you, Ahmad It's quite normal

that you didn't notice me I live among these bushes and my color

matches the leaves That way my enemies can't spot me any more

than you could I can hide from them very easily."

Ahmad thought for a moment: "Yes, but what if they do see you?

Then what do you do?"

"If you look carefully," said the frog, holding up a foot, "You'll see

there are webs between my toes When I'm jumping I open my toes

out and that way I can glide in the air Sometimes I can fly as much

as 40 feet (12 meters) in a single bound."

"What about when you want to land?" wondered Ahmad

"I use my legs when I fly I use the webs on my feet like a

para-chute to slow myself down when I land," the frog explained

"That's very interesting," mused Ahmad "It never occurred to me

before that frogs can fly."

The frog grinned: "Some species of frog can fly as far as they can

swim This is a blessing our Lord gave us Allah created our colors to

camouflage us in the surroundings we live in That allows us to

sur-vive If Allah hadn't created us like this, we'd soon have been killed

One of the striking creatures whichAllah has created is a kind of frog thatlives in virgin forests The most inter-esting characteristic of this little tree frog, which has thin legs andwebs between its toes, is that it can use its legs to fly by gliding.When it flies from trees it uses its legs like parachutes when it wants

to soften its landing By opening the webs between its toes it doublesthe surface area of its body Flying frogs can glide through the air for

up to 40 feet (12 meters) before landing in a tree By moving their legsand changing the shape of their webbed feet they can even controlthe direction they fly in

off by other animals."

Ahmad saw the point: "The webs between your toes are necessary

for you to be able to jump long distances I don't have webs on my

feet because I don't need them The needs of every living creature are

different, aren't they?"

"Yes, you're right, you put it very well."

Ahmad answered: "Allah created us in the best way to make our

lives easier We should be very grateful to Him for that."

"Right again, Ahmad," agreed his friend "Our Lord

created all living things according to the environment

they live in He gave us everything we need

when we were born."

"Yes," said Ahmad "Now, little frog, I

have to go, otherwise my father will be

wondering what's happened to me It

was great talking to you If I come

here another time, I'll visit you again."

"I shall look forward to that Nice to

have met you Goodbye, Ahmad "

croaked the frog as it hopped back into

the bushes and disappeared from

sight

Hameed was a very intelligent and cheerful boy He was very

interested in birds and wanted to get to know all of them well

He somtimes looked after birds in his house, but later let them go

He took great pleasure in their free lifestyles One morning inspring, Hameed saw a flock of long-legged birds all flying togetherand right away he went out onto the terrace of his house to watchthem more closely When he got outside he saw that two of these

birds had landed on the chimney and hewas very happy to see them He wavedand called out to them:

"Hello, I'm Hameed Who are you?"

"Hello, Hameed I hope we're notgiving you any trouble by landing here

We'd like very much to talk to you and

get to know you," said one of the pair

"By all means," said Hameed: "I love

all birds very, very much Can you tell me

a bit about yourselves, please?"

"Of course," replied the first bird

"We are storks We are migrating

birds with big snow-white wings

be-tween 3.5-5 feet (one and

one-and-a-half meters) long and long black

tails It is the red color of our beaks and our long legs that give us

such an attractive appearance."

Hameed agreed "You really do look

lovely!"

"What people notice most about us is

our flying style," continued the stork "We fly with

our beaks stretched forward and our legs stretched out

behind This makes us able to fly much faster by using the

air."

Hameed was curious, "And where are you traveling now?"

"Every year we migrate in large flocks, Hameed, because we

can't live in cold places In doing this we also bring people the

good news that warm summer days are on the way During

the summer we live right across a huge area that stretches

from Europe to North Africa and from Turkey to Japan

When the weather starts to get cold we migrate to

the southern hemisphere, to tropical Africa and

India."

Hameed was puzzled, "But how do you know when the weatherbegins to get colder?"

The stork smiled: "That really is a very good question Of course,the answer is that Allah taught us All at the same time we feel a

need to move to warm countries Allah makes usfeel that It is Allah Who shows us the way to fly,and when fall comes again He makes sure wecan return over a distance of thousands of milesand find our old homes again It is Allah with

His inspiration Whoteaches us all thesethings."

"It really is very

There is no creature crawling onthe earth or flying creature, flying on itswings, who are not communities just like your-selves–We have not omitted anything from theBook–then they will be gathered to theirLord (Surat al-An'am, 38)

interesting that you can travel such long distances and

return and find your old nests without making a mistake,

as though you had a compass in your hands," said

Hameed, impressed

The stork went on, "Of course this kind of powerful

memory and wonderful direction finding ability are the

re-sult of Allah's supreme creation, Who gave them to us."

Hameed had another question for his new friend, "You live close

to human beings, don't you?"

"Yes," replied his friend "We make our nests on the roofs of

houses And we build nests on the top of trees and chimneys "

The other stork then stood up and said, "Sorry, Hameed, we

have to be on our way again."

Hameed watched his new friends grow

smaller and smaller as they flew on

their way

Nabeel was watching television after returning home

from school one day There was a documentary gram on one channel Nabeel enjoyed watching documentariesabout animals he had never seen in real life This time the programwas about seals Nabeel sat forward and began watching with in-terest

pro-But suddenly he felt cold He looked round and realized that hewas now inside the TV picture Right beside him was the seal hehad just seen on the screen!

"Hello!" he said, shivering a little, to the seal "It's very cold

here, don't you feel it?"

"You must be new here!" answered the seal

"It's always cold It's 23 degrees Fahrenheit(minus 5 degrees Celsius) at its warmest, even

in spring That suits me just fine because weseals love the cold We never feel it Howcome? Because of our fur, this wonderful coat

that Allah has given us! Of course the fat in

our bodies also helps protect us against

the cold."

"Is that your mother over there?"

Nabeel pointed to a much larger

seal some distance away "I think

she's looking for you Call her and

let her know where you are if you

like "

The seal went on: "We seals live in

big herds and, yes, we look very much

like one another But our mothers never

confuse us with any other seal This is an

ability that Allah has given them As soon as her baby is born,

the mother gives him a welcome kiss Because of this kiss, she

recognizes his smell and never gets him mixed up with any other

baby This is one of Allah's countless blessings He has given us

We are grateful to our Almighty Lord because He gave our

mothers this ability to recognize us amongst the crowds we live

in."

Nabeel had something else he

wanted to ask: "I remember reading

that you spend most of your time in

the water So how did you

learn to swim?"

If you tried to num- ber Allah's blessings, you could never count them (Surah Ibrahim: 34)

His new friend explained: "Allah ated all of us according to the condi-tions we live in and made us readyfor them Just as He created thecamel according to the condi-tions of the desert, He created usaccording to these cold condi-tions It is Allah's will that when

cre-we are born our bodies have alayer of fat called baby fat Ourlittle bodies stay warm thanks to thisfat And because the fat layer is lighterthan water it acts as a kind of lifebelt whenour mothers are teaching us to swim After two weeks of swim-ming lessons we become really great swimmers and divers."

"So, Allah created a special lifebelt inside your bodies foryou so you can learn to swim! How wonderful!"

"That's right," said the little seal "Every living thing He ated so perfectly is a proof that Allah has power over every-thing."

cre-Just at that moment Nabeel was awakened by a warm kiss

on the cheek from his mother The documentary on the televisionwas still going on Nabeel remembered the dream he had justhad and smiled at the little seal on the screen

Among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and

earth and all the

creatures

(Surat Shura: 29)

ash-The waters of the ocean are very cold,

es-pecially in the depths For this reason Allah

created seals, which live in cold water, with a

thick layer of fat beneath their skin This

layer prevents the seals from losing their

body heat quickly Another interesting thing

about seals is that the females produce the

richest, the most nourishing milk known in

na-ture This milk makes the babies they raise

under difficult conditions grow very quickly

On a school trip one day, Amir

left his friends and began towander about amongst the trees

As he was leaning against a treeand resting, a voice came from

a log on the ground

"Hello Amir," said the voice,

"Are you tired out?"

Amir couldn't believe his ears.When he looked carefully at thelog, he noticed a creature that was

so close to it in color that he haddifficulty in telling which waswhich

"Who are you?" he asked

"I had real trouble spottingyou—your color and the color ofthe log you're sitting on are ex-actly the same!"

a lizard "I change my color according to my surroundings to

pro-tect myself from danger."

"How do you manage such a wonderful thing?" asked Amir,

in-trigued

"Let me explain," said his new friend "I have special coloring

substance called 'chromatophore' in my skin This allows me to

change my color to match my surroundings This color change

comes about through the distribution and collection of various

sub-stances and pigments in my nervous system So even though I move

very slowly, I can live unnoticed and safely wherever I may be Of

That is Allah, your Lord There

is no god but Him, the Creator of

everything So worship Him He is

responsible for everything Eyesight

cannot perceive Him but He

per-ceives eyesight He is the Penetrating, the All-Aware

All-(Surat al-An‘am: 102-103)

course, this ability was given to me by our Almighty Lord, Who vides us with everything we need."

pro-Amir was not sure he quite understood, "Could you please tell me

a bit more about how you change color?"

The chameleon took a deep breath and nodded: "When I'm sitting

on a leafy branch in daylight I turn green with black and brownmarkings, like the shadows on the branches around me When it'sdark I'm completely black I can carry out all these color changeswithin 15 minutes When I'm angry though, I develop dark orangespots and dark red markings as a warning to other animals."

"That is really unbelievable!" cried Amir "I wonder what else isspecial about you?"

His friend smiled happily "My eyes move independently of oneanother I can look backwards and downwards Of course, I would-n't have had any of these characteristics if Allah had not wanted me